You take my hand, leaving me breathless
by JustALittleGay
Summary: Reed and Julian get cast as Peter and Jason in the school production of Bare, which leads to them getting a lot closer. Based on CP Coulter's Dalton.
1. Rehearsals

**DEDICATED TO ELLIE :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or the musical or the setting. The characters and setting belong to CP Coulter, the musical belongs to Jon Hartmere, Jr. and Damon Intrabartolo. (According to wikipedia?)**

**Video Reed watches: watch?v=QaJTt5weMwE**

* * *

"Shit."

"What?" Logan asked, sounding completely disinterested.

"I got the lead." Julian turned to him, looking slightly shocked.

"Why are you so surprised? You're a famous actor, obviously they'd cast you in the lead. Why did you audition anyway? You're in Something Damaged, it's not like you need it."

Julian sighed. "Carmen thought it'd be good for my image. I don't know. But we thought I'd get Zack or something, since I clearly don't need the big roles. Also, this means making out with Van Kamp and Hughes. Reed's cute, but I don't know if I can deal with Wes."

"Cute?" Logan raised his eyebrows.

"Well, cuter than Wes. He's tiny and his hair is fluffy."

"I bet he'll make a very pretty girl." Derek smirked.

Julian smiled, "No, Reed's Peter. Wes is playing Ivy!" He looked to Derek, clearly trying to contain himself, but bursting out laughing.

Logan and Derek couldn't help but join him. Wes Hughes was definitely going to look pretty in a Catholic school girl outfit.

* * *

"Oh my god, Reed!" Kurt exclaimed, grinning at his friend who stared back in blank shock. "You got Peter!"

"Yeah." Reed muttered, blinking.

"…Is there something wrong with that?"

"I've never played lead before," Reed explained, chewing a fingernail. "I don't know if I can deal with everyone staring at me – and I'm acting opposite Julian Larson! He'll be all perfect and I'll probably fall over and forget my lines in the opening number and it'll take me weeks to get off the script in rehearsals and he'll get so irritated-"

"Reed, calm down! Peter only has one solo, and Julian likes you. Well, he's nice to you at least. So he'll probably help you if need it. But you go to Ms Medel and back out if you want."

"Do you think I should?" Reed asked, as Kurt pulled his hand away from his mouth.

"No way! I think this'll be great!"

"...Okay." Reed frowned, biting onto his lip instead.

* * *

Reed tapped his fingers over the keys, staring blankly at his screen. Who thought essays were a good idea?

He loaded Facebook. Just checking. Maybe for three hours, maybe not. He scrolled listlessly, cursing internally at everyone's complete lack of activity. Now he couldn't justify his procrastination.

He minimised the window, attempting once again to concentrate on his essay.

A couple of minutes later, a Facebook notification booped.

Reed opened the window again, a box flashing in the corner.

**Julian Larson**  
Hey

**Reed Van Kamp**  
Hi

Reed chewed on his lip as Julian typed again. They hadn't even started rehearsals. Maybe he was really horrified at the thought of playing Reed's love interest and wanted him to back down. Maybe he found the idea of kissing him repulsive – oh god, was he going to have to kiss him? That could be okay, he could do that. Could he? Maybe-

**Julian Larson**  
I know we haven't even started rehearsals yet, but I was wondering if you were free tomorrow so we could read lines together?

Reed sighed in relief, rushing to reply.

**Reed Van Kamp**  
Sure, what time? I'm free all day.

**Julian Larson**  
Is 10 too early?

**Reed Van Kamp**  
No, that's perfect :)

Reed cringed as soon as he sent it. Why was he such a dork?!

**Julian Larson**  
Okay, see you then.

Ugh. The English essay could wait, he had to whole weekend for it. Right now, Reed had flailing to do.

* * *

(a couple of weeks later)

The 10am Saturday meetups were becoming a regular thing, often lasting well into the afternoon. They were both beginning to be able to do their scenes with only a couple of script checks, much to the delight of Ms Medel in their official rehearsal time. Reed struggled to remember his lines more than Julian did, but since he already knew the songs a lot better than Julian he felt almost like they balanced out. He was finding Julian a lot more patient with him than he'd expected though, and his presence a lot more enjoyable. He'd even bought chocolate milk to last week's meeting, leading to a discussion of whether putting caramel in it was acceptable. (Reed: NEVER. Julian: ALWAYS.)

"I feel like I shouldn't be singing this to you," Julian laughed, "It makes me feel like such a creep!"

"He's joking around with his boyfriend! It's not like he's singing it to some random kid on the street."

"You drink chocolate milk. This is not age appropriate." Julian raised an eyebrow.

"It's a perfectly reasonable choice of beverage!"

"We should get more of it." Julian nodded in agreement.

"Sing the song!" Reed commanded, trying to get them back on subject.

"_Hey little boy, would you like a ride, a lollipop, a puppy?  
How about a baseball bat? – there's one in my pants!_"

Julian smirked, flicking his eyebrows up.

"_No thank you. My mom, she said to never talk to strangers._"

Reed put on an overly innocent face, trying not to laugh.

_"So a kiss is out of the question then?"_

Reed blushed, looking at Julian coyly from under his lashes _"I'll take a chance."_

"Reed."

"Yeah?"

"I'm hungry. Can we get lunch?"

"Stop putting off the song!" Reed flailed. "We have to practice!"

"But I'm hungry. And there are Windsors eyeing me like we'll need to cast a new Jason if I keep on singing with you about boners."

"Fine, we'll stop for lunch. And then create some kind of big havoc in Windsor so they leave us alone."

* * *

Reed closed his eyes, ignoring the figures on the screen, having paused so he could flail out of embarrassment as they reached the fourth line of the song. Julian had been acting. Not actually flirting and Reed had still wanted to kiss him. He couldn't act opposite Julian, not when he kept thinking about kissing him. It was creepy and weird. Is it too late to back out?

It doesn't matter, it's just a stupid crush. It'll go away.

He unpaused the video, watching the actors move around the stage, and their facial expressions, focusing particularly on Peter. Could he really get that close to Julian without it being awkward? And the kissing. He was going to have to kiss Julian Larson. Julian Larson who'd probably kissed a lot more people than he had. In fact, there were probably videos of him making out with people on Youtube. And they would have to do it infront of people!

* * *

Julian closed his eyes, laying back on his bed as the music flowed through his headphones. He smirked as he remembered Reed blushing during their rehearsal earlier. They'd have to start figuring out staging soon, and that included kissing. Honestly, Julian was kind of looking forward to it. Not in a creepy way. Reed was cute, and Julian just liked kissing pretty people.

It would definitely be awkward at first though.

Reed just looked so tiny and innocent, it made Julian feel like a creep.

He'd have to come up with some kind of bonding activity to get closer to Reed, hopefully get him comfortable enough to manage such close proximity. Haven would be playing in town next week. Maybe he could text Clark and get tickets for both of them.

* * *

**AN: I don't write a lot, so sorry for them being OOC. I'm trying! I have plans for the rest of the fic, it should hopefully be about 3 chapters :3**

**Also I have never done a school production, so sorry that it's all really vague because of me not knowing how it works!**


	2. The Blonde wig

**The coffee machine is a fictional, completely made up type of coffee machine because I don't understand how they work at all.**

**This one's really short so I'm going to try to be quick with the next one.**

* * *

Reed was waiting nervously outside Stuart house the next Friday evening, extremely confused when Julian approached him holding a long blonde wig, a scarf, sunglasses, and wearing a very pretty shirt that had to belong to one of Derek's girlfriends.

"Hi," Julian greeted him with a smile, apparently oblivious to the eccentricity of his possessions. "Ready to go?"

"Uh… sure." Reed answered. Should he even ask…?

* * *

"Hold on a second," Julian said awkwardly after they parked, putting on his scarf and beginning to pull on the wig.

"Do you… always… cross dress?" Reed asked. "Not that I'm judging! It's fine, I just… wasn't aware."

Julian laughed, adjusting his bangs in the rear view mirror. Reed was slightly unnerved by how much he looked like Taylor Swift, especially once he'd put on his sunglasses. "I have to go incognito or we'll get bombarded by fangirls. It's less obvious if I'm a girl."

* * *

Clark grinned when he saw his step-brother front row, noting that Julian appeared to be absent from the crowd. Something must have come up. Reed was presumably accompanied by the tall blonde next to him, who seemed to be way more interested in Reed than the band. She was wearing sunglasses way too big for her face though, making it kind of hard to tell.

* * *

"Hey!" Clark hugged Reed after the show, their difference in height making it look like either Reed was a toddler or Clark was a giant. "Julian couldn't come?"

"No, I brought my girlfriend instead." Reed giggled, slinging an arm around Julian's waist.

Julian grinned, taking off his sunglasses. "Hey."

Clark burst out laughing, taking a couple of minutes to compose himself. "_Please_, let me tweet a picture of this."

* * *

"This was really fun." Julian said before he left Reed at Windsor. "We should do stuff like this more often."

Reed nodded enthusiastically, curls bouncing. "Are we still meeting up tomorrow?"

"Of course." Julian grinned. "See you later."

He paused to makes sure Reed could actually get into Windsor before walking back to his room. He made sure he retweeted the picture; Reed's arm around his waist and his arm around Reed's shoulders, both of them grinning. Clark had captioned it "My brother and his girlfriend after our concert tonight!"

* * *

"Did you have fun on your date?" Derek asked asked Julian raced into the kitchen, without shoes and pulling on his t-shirt.

"Don't call it a date, the twins'll have my head if you call it a date," Julian replied, distracted, rushing to make his coffee. "Windsor'll have my head if you call it a date. Hell, the whole school'll want to kill me if they think I'm messing around with Reed."

"You looked very pretty." Derek smirked, watching Julian shift around restlessly as he waited for the coffee machine.

"I know!" Julian smiled quickly. "I'm late, I'm supposed to be meeting him in like five minutes."

"For another date?"

"It's not a date, Derek!" Julian poured his coffee into a travel mug, going to the fridge for cream.

"Me and Lo were going to go for lunch today, are you coming?"

"I guess I could finish early with Reed…" Julian replied from inside the fridge, continuing as he emerged. "I'd have to make it up another time though."

"I don't think Reed will mind." Derek rolled his eyes. "Meet us at one."

"Definitely." Julian replied, picking up his coffee and rushing to the door.

"Shoes." Derek reminded him.

Julian cursed, putting down his coffee as he ran back up the stairs.

Derek rolled his eyes again. God, his friends were stupid.

* * *

**I am obsessed with as much accuracy as possible in fanfictions so I'm fixating on the coffee machine. Do they do the cream or do you do the cream? I don't know.**

**This chapter was really funny in my head?**


	3. Rolling

**HOW DO YOU DEVELOPMENT**

**I feel like everyone's really OOC, and I think there should be more development between Reed and Julian before the third part . I tried.**

* * *

The rain had started pouring around 11am on Sunday morning. Almost everyone was inside, keeping away from the horrific weather. Even the twins had been dragged back inside by Kurt, after trying to get up to something ridiculous again.

By 2pm, Julian was the only person outside, lying alone on a bench, his hands folded neatly against his stomach. He wasn't entirely sure how long he'd been there, but he was soaked through. He'd probably have to go back inside soon, or Derek would start telling him again about how he was going to get hypothermia.

How was Dalton's resident playboy secretly a mother hen?

"Julian, what are you doing?!" a voice called across the courtyard.

Julian sat up to watch the smaller boy running over to him, head ducked from the rain. "Be careful," he called, though tonelessly, knowing the other boy's disposition for clumsiness.

"What are you doing?" Reed repeated, sitting next to him and brushing his wet curls out of his face.

"I like it." Julian answered simply, looking up at the sky.

Reed didn't reply, but tilted his head back slightly to follow his gaze.

* * *

Julian bored quickly of the task they'd been set, instead staring aimlessly around the room. He smiled as his eyes settled on Reed, who was being teased by the twins. They'd seated themselves on either side of their dormouse, and Reed was looking flustered as they successfully distracted him from their work. One would start pinging Reed's curls, and while he was distracted batting that one away the other twin would move around the items on the desk, so Reed was never quite sure where to find his pen. He started laughing and hid his face in his hands, removing them to say something to the twins that Julian couldn't hear over the babble, but whatever it was made them both grin. Julian found himself grinning at the scene, when the left twin looked up. Their gazes met and Julian quickly looked away, missing the eyeroll Derek gave him, who'd barely paused in his conversation with Logan.

"Jules, are you coming?" Logan asked.

"Where?" Julian asked quickly, trying to cover up his mental absence.

* * *

Julian arrived to the party a couple of hours late, having change his mind about attending hours after it'd started. It was at a day student's house, though he wasn't sure which anymore. He'd just followed Derek's directions.

Music was loud and rooms were dimly lit, people dancing everywhere. Julian noted that the bass was aggressively loud, frowning as he scanned the room for someone he knew, pressing down the thought of "_Peasants_." He spotted Derek dancing with some girl and considered making his way over to them when he spotted Reed on the floor surrounded by a pile of cushions, and instead decided to investigate the strange behaviour.

"Hey." Julian shouted over the music, and gesture to the cushions. "What are you doing?"

"I have to make sure I don't fall down." Reed slurred his reply slightly, nodding slowly as he said it.

"Have been crying?" Julian asked, tilting his head, trying to catch a better view of Reed's face in the dark room.

Reed's eyes started to water. "I'm going to be alone forever!" he exclaimed, looking so desolate Julian almost laughed at the ridiculousness.

"How much did you have?"

Reed shrugged in response, his head now bowed as he continued crying.

Jesus Christ. "Do you want to go outside and get some air?"

When Reed didn't reply, Julian pulled him to his feet anyway, guiding him out to the front yard as Reed clung to him for balance.

"Okay?" Julian asked, glad for the distance from the volume of the music, though it was still insanely loud.

"What if no one ever loves me?" Reed asked dejectedly, sitting down on the grass and pulling his knees up to his chest.

Julian sat down next to him, putting an arm around his shoulders. For purposes of balance. Definitely. He was surprised when Reed leaned into him, resting his head on his shoulder.

Of course Reed would be a weepy, needy drunk.

"You won't be forever alone. Some girl will come along and find you adorable." Julian tried to reassure him, uncertain of what kind of reaction he'd receive.

"Might not want a girl…" Reed mumbled into Julian's shoulder.

"Alright, some guy then."

"Let's play truth or dare," Reed giggled, then frowned. "No, truth. I might fall down else."

"Who's starting?" Julian shook his head, but allowed Reed his game. It seemed like he was too drunk to remember anything in the morning anyway, even if he did find out something interesting.

"Are you… a dog person, or a cat person?" Reed was still slurring, and leaning heavily on Julian now.

Julian laughed. Was this how Reed played truth or dare? "I'm a hedgehog person." He replied.

"Now you have to ask me one." Reed reminded him. Reed was so drunk he could barely stand, and yet _he_ was judging _Julian_.

"Tell me a secret." Julian said, instead of trying to think of something a drunken Reed could cope with.

Reed leaned back to squint at Julian. "I can't tell you that." He said after a minute, resting his head back on Julian's shoulder.

"No, you have to tell me now." Julian grinned. "Those are the rules."

"No." Was Reed's simple reply.

"Fine, tell me a different one." Julian rolled his eyes. It was Reed's game and he wouldn't play it properly.

"I am very ticklish." Reed told him, like he was saying something of great importance. "_But_, you can't tickle me now. Because Charlie said I have to not fall over. Are you ticklish?"

"You just stole my question!" Julian grinned, then replied "Yeah. But if I'm not allowed to tickle you, you're not allowed to tickle me."

"Deal." Reed replied, apparently either not realizing or not caring that Julian didn't technically ask him a question.

"Tell me another secret."

"That's the same thing as last time!" Reed protested.

"I'll keep using it until you tell me all your secrets."

"I… I do not like thunderstorms." Reed proclaimed, sounding sleepier now. "What would you do if you could spend a day with yourself? But another one of yourself. Not you."

"I don't know, probably have sex with myself to see what it'd be like," Julian replied, grinning as he earned a laugh from Reed. "Tell me another secret."

"You tell me one first," Reed replied.

"That's not fair," Julian protested. "You just had your turn."

"Tell me a secret?" Reed asked again.

"You have to keep it. And I have to whisper it so no one else hears." Julian warned him.

"Okay." Reed nodded, allowing Julian to rearrange them so that he could whisper in Reed's ear.

Julian hesitated slightly; he'd never told anyone before, but Reed was so drunk he probably wouldn't remember it in the morning, so if he regretted it it'd be fine. "I'm bi," he whispered, pulling away to check Reed's reaction.

Reed seemed too tired to do anything but nod and snuggle back into Julian.

"Come on, your turn." Julian reminded him. "Tell me a secret."

"It's a big secret." Reed replied. "So we're even. It's the one I almost said first."

"I get to know?" Julian asked in mock delight, though he was interested in what the dormouse had to divulge. "What is it?"

"I like you." Reed mumbled.

Julian paused. Reed couldn't mean…? "Well, I'm glad you like me, we're friends." He replied, trying to divert Reed. If that was what he meant then he'd probably regret telling Julian in the morning.

"No," Reed protested. "I- I _like_ you." He paused before mumbling "I want to kiss you."

Julian stiffened. "Not now," he said gently. "You're drunk."

"A bit," Reed nodded in agreement. Julian could feel him falling asleep against him.

"Who are you here with?" Julian asked quickly.

Reed ignored him, his eyes closed.

"I know you're not asleep yet." Julian told him, but Reed just clung to him tighter.

Julian sighed and removed his phone from his pocket, choosing to call the Tweedles. They were usually at the head of all mayhem.

"Hello, Cheshire." The twins answered.

"Are you at the party?"

"No, we're busy this evening." One of them replied.

"Who did Reed come with?" Julian asked.

"A lot of people. Why?" Were they switching halfway through sentences? Julian thought they might be, but they were too swift to tell.

"He's passed out. Well, almost. I think. Anyway, I'm bringing him back to Windsor."

"Wait." Their tone changed. Almost warning. "We'll come and get him."

"It's fine, I've got it." Julian rolled his eyes. Were they worried he'd forget to put Reed in the car and leave him behind?

"We know how you feel about the dormouse, Cheshire."

"I'm going to bring him back to you." Julian bristled. "You can trust me. I'll take care of him until we get there."

* * *

Julian carried Reed, who was still sleeping, from his car back to Windsor. The twins must've been waiting, because they opened the doors immediately. One of them reached to take Reed, and Julian tried to make sure Reed was transferred as smoothly as possible so as not to wake him.

"How much did he have?" The other twin questioned.

"I don't know," Julian replied. "He was smashed when I got there."

Both twins hesitated before telling him, "Be careful with the dormouse, Cheshire."

"If you were to ever hurt him-"

"We have access to weaponry-"

"And large tracts of land."

Julian rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, I'm not going to wreck Wonderland." He smiled as he turned away from the door. "Your precious dormouse is safe."

* * *

**The twins weren't accusing Julian of wanting to do things to Reed when he's passed out, but I know that's what it sounds like. It was meant to be more "Don't you dare kiss him when he's drunk." Thank you for reading ^.^**


	4. Avoidance

**I'm sorry it's been a while, I've just finished my exams ^.^ This one is weird and the pacing is not good and I might take it down and upload a better one tomorrow, it depends. I tried with Dwight, but I don't think I wrote him well. I also forgot Kurt existed after Reed yelled for him so he was mysteriously absent. Oops.**

**Onwards!**

* * *

Julian assumed that Reed wouldn't be in a fit state to attend their usual meeting the next day. Still, he'd been wondering if he should bring up what Reed said last night. For a start, would Reed even remember saying it? He didn't want to embarrass him by bringing it up, but he didn't want a "they don't know we know they know we know!" situation. Secondly, had Reed even meant it? Reed had been drunk, and there was nothing to say Reed hadn't just been babbling. So if he did bring it up, that meant he'd have to be careful with how he worded it. Thirdly, Julian wasn't even sure how he felt about it. He thought Reed was cute and yeah he wanted to kiss him but well, maybe that was just because Reed's pretty. Dating him would be a lot more dedication, plus if he ever hurt him the entirety of Windsor would make his life Hell. The scariness of Reed's friends probably shouldn't weigh in so much, but it did.

On one hand, Reed would be adorable on a date and get all cute and flustered. On the other hand, the last guy who made Reed cry woke up in his underwear on the side of the road and Julian was fairly certain the twins had something to do it with.

For fuck's sake, there was only one way he could possibly decide…

"DEREK!"

* * *

Reed woke up late the next day, immediately regretting his life choices from the previous night.

After he'd washed and dressed and no longer felt like he might secretly be dead, he finally addressed the nagging feeling that there was something he was meant to do today… did he have homework?

Reed drummed his fingers on the window sill, chewing on his lip as he thought. Was it English? He flailed as he remembered – rehearsal with Julian! He was supposed to meet him hours ago! Although he didn't have any texts – Julian would've text to ask where he was if he was late, right? Maybe they'd arranged to meet up a different day. Reed did feel like they'd spoken the night before. He was pretty sure Julian wasn't at the party. Not that he'd looked for him. Much. He'd given up not long after they'd arrived, deciding Julian must have opted for a quiet night at home. Did he call him? Reed checked his call history, but last night he only had a couple of missed calls from Wes – probably after he'd wondered off. So he didn't talk to Julian last night. Then wouldn't Julian have text him this morning to see where he was?

Reed sat on his bed and puzzled over why he was so sure they'd talked. Maybe he'd had a dream about him. Or did he just get really drunk and marathon Something Damaged? He could remember everything up until he'd been seated on the cushions and then – oh fuck. Oh shit. Oh fucking shittifcation.

He flopped face-down on his bed. "KURT!"

* * *

Julian decided to wait until Sunday to see Reed, but when he got to Windsor he was simply told "He's washing his hair." Julian was slightly perplexed by the excuse, and told the twins to ask Reed to text him when he was done. Houston was eyeing him suspiciously from the doorway as he left. What was even wrong with the inhabitants of that house.

He didn't receive a text on Sunday. But they'd see each other on Monday, right?

Julian hadn't realized quite how well he'd memorized the points throughout the day when he'd see Reed. It wasn't on purpose. He just looked forward to seeing Reed as he left Math. Oh God, he sounded like a creeper. He couldn't help Reed being so pretty! It made him nice to look at!

However this week, he hadn't seen Reed on their usual routes to lessons. Well, not really. He'd caught glimpses of his curls as Reed had presumably disappeared down a side corridor, or ducked behind the twins, or into a crowd of normal sized people. Fucking tiny Windsors hiding. Houston was glaring at him every time they saw each other now. What exact offence had he committed this time?

Other than whatever was presumably causing Reed to hide from him.

Even when they had English together on Wednesday, Julian made sure to catch his eye (okay, he had looked like a creeper when he was watching for Reed to enter the class, but hey, he'd been being avoided!) and smile. Reed blushed and ducked his head, and the twins protectively seated themselves either side of him. Reed avoided eye contact for the rest of the lesson, and for the rest of their lessons together that week. For the most part anyway. Julian had caught him sneaking glances.

Julian was becoming exasperated with the whole charade by the time it reached Friday. He wasn't sure exactly what he'd done, but gradually all of the Windsor conspirators were staring him down every time they passed in a corridor. Even Logan noticed and asked what was going on.

He'd been thinking over Friday night since he realized Reed was avoiding him, but he'd behaved well, hadn't he? He took Reed outside to hopefully make him feel better, then took him home and handed him over to the twins when he was clearly too drunk to function. Admittedly the truth or dare game was less than perfect behaviour, but Reed started that! And it in no way justified the response he'd received.

* * *

That Friday afternoon, he managed to catch Houston as he was doing his rounds, keeping the grounds safe. Dwight bristled as he noticed his company, keeping his water sprayer poised. Julian was already internally facepalming.

"I want to talk to you." Julian said simply. It came out sounding more commanding than he'd meant it but that was fine. He could be bossy. He was Julian Larson, after all.

"Why?" Dwight narrowed his eyes suspiciously, turning to face the other boy.

"Reed's been ignoring me since last week and Windsor's started some kind of war against me. I want to know why." Julian stared the darker haired boy down, searching his face for answers.

"You clearly did something to Reed to upset him, so we're waiting until we find out what. Then further action will be taken. Personally, I'm betting on a failed attempt at a possession." Dwight responded in a plain tone, as though this were extremely obvious.

"What?" Julian asked, not bothering to hide his confusion.

"Well, I'm thinking definitely something demonic, possibly an Ethros-"

Julian flapped his hands, "No, I mean 1) What did I do? And 2) Are you really all hating me because I _might_ have done something to upset Reed?"

Dwight gave him a look as though he were extremely dense. "I don't know and you definitely did something. I always said you were a demon." He started grumbling, going back to his checks.

Julian shook his head and walked away. Clearly Windsors were just crazy.

* * *

Reed was hiding away in his room, trying to escape his housemates. As much as he loved them, the vengeance against Julian was a bit much, considering they didn't even know what he did… which was, admittedly, nothing. But he couldn't see him, not after what he'd said. It was completely embarrassing. Julian way out of his league, and not to mention straight.

Maybe hiding was a little – no, completely – dumb, but seeing him was just too embarrassing and maybe the longer he put it off the more likely it was that the topic would just be awkwardly avoided forever.

His phone vibrated, and when he realized who it was he almost dropped it.

"_Hi. I'll be waiting tomorrow, same as usual._"


	5. Juice box

**I'm sorry, this is the shortest chapter yet. I haven't actually re-read the other chapters in a while so this is probably moving way too fast because it's been about a month in real time! I hope it's okay though :3**

* * *

Reed dithered anxiously by the oak in the space between Windsor and Stuart. He was early, which was lucky because it meant he'd had time to bandage up his injuries acquired from his extra clumsiness this morning.

"Hey," Reed spun around. He'd been too busy trying to remember to act nonchalant when Julian arrived that he actually hadn't noticed him arrive.

"Hi," Reed replied, eyes wide. Julian offered him a juice box, as though this was normal conduct. For some reason he had a whole crate of them. Reed took the one he was offered, bemused.

Julian set down the crate, taking a box and seating himself on the grass next to where Reed was stood as he pierced the top with his straw. Reed awkwardly sat down next to him, denying Julian's offer of help in opening the juice box that he'd been neglecting due to his confusion over _why there was a crate of them_. "Um, why do you have a crate?" He asked, nodding towards it.

"I'm their official sponsor. I get free juice." Julian informed him simply.

Reed nodded, and they lapsed into silence, drinking their juice.

"So, did you have fun last weekend?" Julian asked, reaching into the crate and passing Reed another juice box.

This time Reed ignored the box, flailing his hands to cover his face and making a noise of embarrassment.

"Don't think I'm an asshole – I mean, I am, but this time not on purpose – but did I upset you? I mean, all of your friends seem to hate me and you've been avoiding me all week." Julian asked, somehow sounding unusually gentle but still with a domineering air.

"No! No, I just- no." Reed flailed quickly, hiding his face in his hands again.

Julian waited to see if Reed would continue. He didn't. "Is this about what you told me?" He hit the juice box lightly against Reed's arm, and Reed took it.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to and I shouldn't have said anything and I know I'm such a dork and also a guy so I'd never ever have a chance so I really really shouldn't have said anything and I'm sorry." Reed rambled, shredding the plastic wrapping from his straw as he spoke.

"Wait." Julian interrupted. He paused for a minute before asking "Do you wanna go on a date?"

Reed frowned in confusion. "A date?"

"Yeah." Julian nodded in confirmation. "We could get ice cream?"

"A date?" Reed asked again. What was going on?

"You don't have to," Julian replied, shrugging like it was no big deal, but he felt oddly defenceless. This was not going the way he planned.

"No, I just- are you joking?" Reed tilted his head, feeling like he must have missed something and not understood.

"No, I wouldn't!" Julian replied indignantly. Okay, partly because Windsors were scary enough when he actually hadn't done anything, but mainly because he's not _that much_ of an asshole.

"I thought you were straight," Reed responded, slightly defensive.

"Clearly not." Julian grinned. He paused, sipping his juice. "I'm bi. I just never really bothered to come out."

"Oh." Reed wasn't entirely sure how to respond, so instead he drank his juice.

"So. Ice cream?" Julian asked, making sure not to show how he was now slightly less than confident.

Reed smiled. "Sure."

"Tomorrow?" Julian asked. "We have an audience now."

Reed turned around to see faces disappearing from the windows of Windsor house. He shook his head, turning back to Julian. "Okay, tomorrow. I guess we should probably _actually_ practise today."

"Not to sound like an asshole, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell too many people. It's amazing how easy the paparazzi get wind of stuff and they'd be all over you. Not to mention the fangirls."

"I think it might be safer for you if we don't tell anyone too. I love the other guys, but they're crazy." Reed nodded, poking the straws into the empty juice boxes.

"I noticed." Julian said dryly, breaking into a smile when Reed met his gaze. "Right, which scene needs the most rehearsal?"


End file.
